Every six hours a minor suffers sexual abuse in Honduras

A minor suffers sexual abuse every six hours in Honduras, a country where 83.74% of cases go unpunished and up to 90% of abuses occur in the minor’s environment, according to a study released this Wednesday in Tegucigalpa. The Central American country registered between 2016 and 2020 some 8,945 complaints of sexual assault on minors, of which 8,732 were girls and 1,099 boys, details the study “Impunity Index and institutional response to child sexual abuse in Honduras”, presented by the NGO Association for a Fairer Society (ASJ). Of the total complaints of child sexual violence, only 1,454 (16.25%) had a conviction, so 83.74% are unpunishedhe added.

Minors between the ages of 15 and 17 are the “most affected” group for sexual abuse in Honduras, a country that between 2016 and 2020 reported 4,345 pregnancies in girls and young people between 8 and 17 years old, of which 907 correspond to minors between 8 and 14 years old, the report states. “Given these figures, the minimal or non-existent application of justice against aggressors (of minors) is worrying, since, of 10 reported cases, more than eight remained unpunished,” highlights the ASJ, the Honduran chapter of Transparency International, in the document . 4 out of 10 complaints of child sexual abuse were investigated by the authorities, while only 5 out of 10 cases prosecuted received a conviction, it added.

The Honduran NGO’s report highlighted “the absence of a care system for minors who are victims of child sexual abuse that restores their violated rights, guarantees their protection and access to effective and efficient justice.” “It is also stated that the health system does not have an institutional structure and a sufficient team of professionals, or procedural standards, to contribute to the restoration of the mental health of boys and girls,” he specified.

The “alarming dimension” of the abuses

The figures of child sexual violence in Honduras in the last five years imply “an alarming dimension of violence against children and question the current institutional interventions in prevention,” the report states. The sexual abuse of minors in Honduras entails “serious consequences in girls and boys, for which a coherent, comprehensive and wide-ranging institutional response is warranted,” it details.

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In terms of protection, in Honduras there are “significant gaps between the mere identification of a housing space for victimized children and a protection that restores, restitutes and reintegrates” minors, “Suffering sexual violence in Honduras implies a greater violation of rightsthere are no protection, recovery, or specialized approach systems”, highlights the ASJ study.

The Association for a Fairer Society urged the Government of Honduras to “carry out actions for the design and effective implementation of public policies for the prevention, detection, care of sexual violence and protection of boys and girls.” These public policies must ensure “the reduction of sexual violence based on the characterization of the problem, greater public investment, institutional strengthening and the collaborative intervention of the protection, health, education, justice, security and social protection sectors, among others,” said the ASJ document.